Secrets and Romance 101
by vinskijay
Summary: The Study Group discover that Jeff has a secret girlfriend, and this news could possible break Annie's heart.


Shirley looked up from her textbook and looked around at the empty seats at the study table. In the four months since Jeff and Pierce had graduated a lot had changed. Pierce had left for L.A., to start a new business with Gilbert. Troy's mother had fallen ill, so Troy had transferred to a college in Brooklyn to be closer to her. And Jeff. He had found a new job, with a reputable firm and no one seemed to see much off him now. He had even missed the last couple of group get together.

"So..."started Shirley. "Has anyone heard from the guys lately?"

The remaining group members stopped what they were doing and looked up at Shirley.

"I spoke to Troy a few days ago" responded Abed. "He was still having trouble with no one at his new college believe that he was their new messiah."

Shirley sniggered at this.

"Pierce seems to have convinced Gilbert, that they should be living a Hugh Heffner lifestyle."

Annie, Shirley and Britta scrunched their faces at this thought.

"And Jeff, well I think Britta can fill us in on his activities."

"What? Why me?"

"Cause Jeff still meets up with you for drinks on a weekly basis. You have more contact with him than anyone at this table."

"Britta, so you and Jeff still get together. Have you two started having pre-marital relations again?" said Shirley, narrowing her eyes at Britta.

"No!" shrieked Annie. "Both Britta and Jeff wouldn't do that again." Her gaze shifted down to her lap and she tried to control her heart, which had begun to beat faster.

"Yes Annie's right. This is a Winger free zone. Plus even when he comes out for drinks, the douche only stays for around an hour then leaves. It's as though he's hiding something."

At this Annie jumped up and started to put all her stuff into her bag.

"Sorry guys I have to leave. I'm spending this weekend at Denver University."

"Is that where you want to do your masters?" Asked Britta.

"I'm still not sure. But checking it out this weekend will help me make up my mind." She swung her bag onto her shoulder and walked towards the door. "I'll see you guys next week. Abed I'll see you on Sunday evening. Bye." And with that she walked out to her car.

The group returned to studying. All was quite till Shirley broke the silence.

"Do you two remember the last time Jeffrey was being this evasive? It was when he was secretly dating professor slim calves."

Britta's head snapped up. "That it!"

"Umm...Britta I don't think he's dating Slater again. It would go against his character growth." Abed stated.

They waited for Jeff to remind Abed that they were not characters in a TV show, before realizing Jeff was no longer there to correct anyone.

"No I know he's not dating her, but he has a secret girlfriend. Someone who seems to be taking up all his time." Seeing the disbelief in Shirley's face she continued. "Last month, when me and Jeff were at the red door I went to the toilet. When I came back he was on the phone. He saw me and quickly ended the call, but not before I heard him say '_love you'_ to the person on the other end. When I questioned him about this he claimed he was speaking to his mother, made up an excuse and left."

"It must be the red head I saw him with yesterday." Abed interrupted. .

"WHAT!" screamed Shirley and Britta together.

"Yesterday I saw him cosying up next to this red head in Starbucks. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but Jeff's eyes were full of love and affection, whilst he spoke to her. You should have seen the goofy smile that was stuck on his face."

"Oh sweet lord, Jeffrey's in love! There's still some hope for him."

"This is good for Jeff's character, but it'll be bad for Annie's."

"Why is this bad for An-nie?" Shirley asked

"Cause Annie's still in love with Jeff."

"Na-uh. Jesus would not Jeff and Annie to be together."

"Abed's right about this Shirley. Did you not see her reaction when you mentioned the idea of me and Jeff hooking up again?

Shirley replayed Annie's actions in her head. She let out a loud gasp. "Oh dear lord! My sweet pumpkins gonna be heartbroken. No wonder Jeff's hiding this"

"That douche bag. I always knew he would break her heart. This just goes to show that we women don't need a man in our lives. It's not as though..."

"ENOUGH" shouted Shirley, causing Britta to stop mid rant. "We need to deal with the situation with Annie now. You can finish your rant later. Now what can we do about this?"

The women looked to Abed for a plan of action.

"Annie is going to get hurt no matter what happens. We need to speak to Jeff so we can help him minimise Annie's pain. The longer he hides his relationship, the more it's gonna destroy Annie. We have to ambush him and make him tell Annie everything now." He pointed at Britta. "Ambush?"

Britta nodded. He then pointed at Shirley. "Ambush?"

Shirley nodded.

"Right then," spoke Britta." As a psych major student, Jeff's mental defences will be down when he's just woken up. We need to get to his place early tomorrow morning and make him squeal, whilst he's still waking up and disorientated."

Shirley sighed. "You know Britta; we can't just blame Jeff for this."

"Yes we can. He should have handled this thing with Annie years ago, but as always that jag just ignored it. This time we have to make him deal with it."

* * *

The next morning all three of them found themselves outside Jeff's apartment, waiting for him to open the door. A barely conscious Jeff yanked open the door, clad only in sweatpants.

"Guys do you not remember my rules for waking me up on a Saturday? Not before 2pm!"

He just shook his head and let them in.

"Jeffrey we need to talk." Shirley used her deep scary voice and on hearing this Jeff instantly sat down.

"What's wrong? Is it Pierce? Has something happened to him?"

"No it's not Pierce." Replied Britta. "It's actually about you and your new girlfriend."

"New girlfriend?" chuckled Jeff. "I don't even have an old girlfriend, let alone a new one."

"Don't even think about lying to us Winger. Abed saw you."

A look of worry instantly showed on Jeff's face.

"Jeff-rey are you going to deny that you were canoodling with that red head in Starbucks."

"YOU WERE WHAT?" Shouted a voice from the bedroom.

Everyone turned and looked at who had suddenly appeared at Jeff's bedroom doorway and gasped. Standing there was Annie, wrapped in only one of Jeff's Egyptian cotton bed sheets.

Annie marched straight up to Jeff and poked him in his chest. "What are they all talking about Jeff? What were you doing with this red head?"

Jeff growled deeply and glared at the study group. "Annie as per usual, these morons have got the wrong end of the stick." He took a deep breath. "The red head I was with was my father's new fiancé. She was asking me to do a pre-nup before their wedding."

Annie looked into Jeff's eyes and could instantly tell he was telling the truth. She quickly rounded on the group.

"Why are you telling me stories about Jeff?"

Britta Glared at Annie. "Care to tell us why you're in Jeff's apartment, with what looks like no clothes on?"

Annie looked down at what she was wearing and gasped.

"I...ummm...I'm gonna go and put some clothes on." She quickly ran into Jeff's bedroom and slammed the door shut.

The group quickly trained their eyes onto Jeff.

"As you guy have already figured out, yes I do have a secrete girlfriend. It's Annie."

"And exactly how long has this been going on for." Asked Shirley.

"Since the day I graduated."

"You've guys have been together for four months. How could you not tell us?"

Jeff quickly stood up and walked toward the front door.

"Look guys I would love for you guys to stay and discuss me and Annie, but we have to get ready. I'm taking Annie to go and meet my mother."

The groups' collective jaws hit the floor.

Britta quickly regained her senses. "Oh my god. You guys are serious about each other."

"Yes. We are."

"Jeffrey. Do you love her?"

"Yes. I do."

Shirley broke out into a huge smile and squealed in delight. She pulled Jeff into a monster hug. "Now Jeffrey you should go and get ready. Its not nice to keep your mother waiting."

With this she grabbed hold of Britta and Abed and hustled them out of the front door. Jeff closed the door behind them and chuckled to himself.

"Jeff? I thought we had dinner with your mother last night. You never told me we would be spending today with her."

"We're not."

"But you just told..."

Jeff sat down on his couch. "It was the fastest way to get rid of them."

Annie smiled and slowly started to walk toward Jeff. "So it looks like everyone knows about us."

Jeff pulled Annie into his lap. "Yep they all know now."

Annie snuggled against Jeff's chest.

"Jeff? When do we tell the group we've decided to move in together?"


End file.
